I sat the next fight out as per Antonio’s instructions. I really didn’t have a problem with that, feeling as I was, and I knew he was giving me a chance to go drink my fill on blood to recuperate. So I did just that, drinking on a Com who wasn’t quiet dead yet. When I was full and able to walk properly without teetering, I moved to the front of the building where I could hear the last of the fighting.
It went fairly smoothly, everyone dead but our target. Ezra used his power to put the Com under a mind hold. Soon we were following the Com, who moved like a robot to the center of the building, where he took us through multiple key-coded access points, then to an elevator. We rode down silently then used the robot-like Com as a body shield when we exited the elevator into a room with ten armed Coms. They went down quickly, except for our next target, which Elder Zeller put under a mind hold, but this Com didn’t have the access key we needed to get past the enormous rounded steel door that reminded me of a bank’s vault. So Elder Jacobs whipped up some wind and blew the fucking thing in.
It got a bit hairy after that, with even more Coms in lab coats in the next room. The room was like a morgue for the Beasts, except that the Beasts were still alive, strapped to metal tables and drugged enough that they only lay there as we fought. A shot of pain erupted against my palm as I shoved off one of the tables when I kicked a Com in the head, and I grunted, staring at the table for a moment as I tried to wipe the Com’s brain from my boot. I blinked, then I shouted, “Don’t touch the tables. They’re pure silver!” No wonder the Beasts were just lying there.
Antonio shouted across the expanse of the sterile room, and I turned even as I used one of my Cizanos to slice off the head of a Com sneaking up on me. Three Coms had him pinned to a table, effectively cutting off his power, making him fight three on one even as the silver affected him. He managed to incapacitate two of them, but the third grabbed one of his knives. Quickly, I lifted my gun, but the Com still jabbed the knife into the side of his neck. I fired, already running toward him, my body trembling in fury as I roared my anger.
Elder Zeller blurred past me, and I fired at all Coms between us and Antonio’s falling form. A Com got past me, but I saw Ezra race after him, killing him before he could hit a button on the wall. None of that really mattered though, as I came to a stop, skidding on the blood on the tiled floor and falling to my knees next to Elder Zeller, who had caught Antonio before he hit the ground. Eyes darting to Elder Zeller, who also looked panicked staring down at Antonio, I asked, “Do I take it out or leave it in?” Antonio was wheezing, but he was still breathing. “I don’t know if he can heal himself.”
Antonio tried to speak, but only odd sounds came out and Elder Zeller didn’t answer me.
Growling, I stared into Antonio’s eyes. “One blink for yes, two for no. Should I remove it?” Two blinks. I stared at the hilt of the knife, but I couldn’t see the blade. “Is it one of your silver knives?” One blink. “Shit.” The sounds of fighting were beginning to decrease around us, and I placed my hands on Antonio. “Can you flash to camp?” Two blinks. “If I leave now with you, will you make it there alive?” No blinks. He didn’t know. “That’s better than no. Time to go.”
I yanked him from Elder Zeller’s grip, and Antonio instantly started trembling, which meant Elder Zeller had been giving him peace. I substituted it the best way I could, pouring soothing Shifter power into him, and his shaking decreased a bit. Holding him tight in my arms, I juggled him for a moment then stood. The fighting was done, thank God.
“I’m leaving now,” I shouted, already beginning to walk to the exit. “I’ll be taking the SUV, so you’ll have to find your own ride back.” Elder Merrick’s and Elder Jacobs’s eyes were enormous on their faces, and Ezra’s face was carefully blank, as they saw the knife sticking out of Antonio’s throat. “Blow the place up good, gentlemen.” I raced to the open elevator.
I growled when Elder Zeller blurred inside its confines with me. “What the fuck are you doing?” It was going to be a ten mile race to the SUV. Elder Zeller was huge for a Vampire, and faster than shit, but he didn’t have my strength to carry Antonio for that length of distance.
He hit the button to close the elevator doors. “I’ll keep anyone still living off you, help you get out the front gate, then I’ll give him peace while you drive.”
Chest heaving, I nodded. “All right. We’ll keep him alive together.” My attention swung down to Antonio, lighting his face blue, my eyes glowing and unable to stop. “You won’t die.” I held him tighter and kissed his cheek.
Chapter Twelve